Lafayette voters in November approved Ballot Measure 300, which bans all “oil and gas extraction and related activities” within the city in east Boulder County.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association sued the city and asked for a summary judgment.

In her ruling, Judge D.D. Mallard found the amendment invalid under the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation act, which charges the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission with regulating oil and gas activity.

Mallard also issued a permanent injunction against the charter measure.

“There is no way to harmonize Lafayette’s drilling ban with the stated goals of the Oil and Gas Conservation Act,” she wrote. “The state interest in production, prevention of waste and protection of correlative rights, on one hand, and Lafayette’s interest in banning drilling on the other, present mutually exclusive positions. There is no common ground upon which to craft a means to harmonize the state and local interest. The conflict in this case is an irreconcilable conflict.”

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